Notre Dame fire

Really sad to see the photos and videos of the fire at the Notre Dame in Paris yesterday. Seeing such a big part of history and world heritage go up in flames is tragic. I do hope they try and rebuild it, even if it won’t be the same anymore.

Here are some of my older photos I posted of it. Better to remember it like this, than see it burning.

Notre Dame in Paris

And here is one more, I edited only today. This one is from under Pont des coeurs that is ring in front of the cathedral.

Paul Couturier bridge in Lyon

After the rainy photos, here is one from a very sunny day in Lyon. It was so hot and sunny that day, I was not able to stand for 5 minutes in the sun. I was getting dizzy from the dry hot air. Really not my kind of weather.

This was taken on the red Paul Couturier bridge in Lyon, few years back. I managed to find a flat for rent like 10 min walk from this bridge, so I returned here every day to get my photo. And while waiting for nice clouds or a sunset, I never got one. The whole week I was there, the sky was clear or with only a bit of hazy clouds, like on this photo. I also tried the same photo in the evening, but since there are light that shine through the sides of the bridge, I got a crazy amount of flares. Will have to try that again next time.

No clouds at the Notre Dame

I have been to Paris many times already. And almost each time I’m there, I try to go to the Notre Dame and try to get a photo I would like. And over the years, I never got one. I got OK ones, but nothing really spectacular. Every single time, it either rains, there are no clouds, or the weather is just ugly. But I will try again and again :)

Same here. That evening I got absolutely no clouds at all. Nothing. I could probably paste some in, but I generally don’t like to do that. So I ended up with this panorama. This is a two shot panorama, each one from two exposures. Blended and combined in Photoshop.

The street towards Les Invalides in Paris

When you are taking photos from a high up place, you can either try to capture as much as you can, or focus on one single part of the scenery. To tell the truth, the wide shots are simpler. The reason is mostly wind. When you are shooting wide, a small movement of the camera will have almost no effect on the photo. When you zoom in, a small movement will completely ruin the photo. It’s the same when you are shooting handheld. The wider you go, the better chance your photo will be sharp.

This photo was taken from the top of the Tour Montparnasse in Paris. This is the only skyscraper in the center of Paris. If you ever been there, you would know, that it can get quite windy there. Since the floor is not really stable (it bends when people walk around), you can’t really use a tripod. Instead I used a clamp and attached the camera to the outside glass wall. It’s a very thick glass there. But like this, the camera was mostly outside, so right in the wind.

Here I used the 200mm lens and zoomed in a lot to get only Les Invalides in the photo. I did multiple shots, hoping that one of them will be sharp enough. And one was. This is a blend of two exposures, blended and edited in Photoshop.

Modern side of Paris

Ok, enough of landscapes, let’s get back into the city. And where better to go than to Paris. So today’s photo is a shot from the modern area around the La Defense. I already took it more than a year ago, as I did not had the chance to go back to Paris last year. But I can’t wait to go back, as before, part’s were still under construction, and I hope it’s finished now :)

This is a three shot vertorama, each shot from a single exposure. Panorama created in Photosho, where I also did all the finishing edits.

Sharing images

All images are shared under Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-derivatieves, Non-Commercial. Feel free to use images non-commercialy on your blog, facebook, pinterest and similar but link to www.hdrshooter.com and give credit to me, Miroslav Petrasko, as the author.